Game Info
Enhancing Items: SU & GU
Silver Units and Gold Units — the two-step process that pushes a piece of gear two tiers higher, and the rules that govern the climb.
What is enhancement?
Silver Units (SU) and Gold Units (GU) are stackable items thou collectest in the world. Spend them on a piece of equipment from thy own inventory and that piece climbs two tiers higher than thou foundest it. Everything happens in thy bag — no gold needed, no errand to anyone — just SU then GU, applied directly to the gear. SU comes first; GU may be applied only after the SU upgrade is in.
Each step adds +1 to every stat the item already has. A +1 Lightning ring becomes +2 Lightning after SU and +3 Lightning after GU. A ring with both +2 Lightning and +1 Wisdom becomes +3 Lightning, +2 Wisdom after SU, and +4 Lightning, +3 Wisdom after GU. The pattern is uniform: every existing bonus on the item moves up by one with each operation.
What it costs (in SU and GU)
Each step is paid in the matching units — SU for the silver step, GU for the gold step. The amount consumed scales with the item's current bonus:
units to spend = (current bonus + 1) × 100
Where current bonus is the item's stat before the operation. The same formula governs both: a +1 item burns 200 SU to reach +2, then 300 GU on top of that to reach +3. A +10 item burns 1,100 SU to reach +11, then 1,200 GU on top of that to reach +12.
Cost table
| Starting bonus | After SU | SU spent | After GU | GU spent | Total units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +1 | +2 | 200 SU | +3 | 300 GU | 200 + 300 |
| +2 | +3 | 300 SU | +4 | 400 GU | 300 + 400 |
| +3 | +4 | 400 SU | +5 | 500 GU | 400 + 500 |
| +4 | +5 | 500 SU | +6 | 600 GU | 500 + 600 |
| +5 | +6 | 600 SU | +7 | 700 GU | 600 + 700 |
| +6 | +7 | 700 SU | +8 | 800 GU | 700 + 800 |
| +7 | +8 | 800 SU | +9 | 900 GU | 800 + 900 |
| +8 | +9 | 900 SU | +10 | 1,000 GU | 900 + 1,000 |
| +9 | +10 | 1,000 SU | +11 | 1,100 GU | 1,000 + 1,100 |
| +10 | +11 | 1,100 SU | +12 | 1,200 GU | 1,100 + 1,200 |
| +12 | +13 | 1,300 SU | +14 | 1,400 GU | 1,300 + 1,400 |
| +14 | +15 | 1,500 SU | +16 | 1,600 GU | 1,500 + 1,600 |
| +16 | +17 | 1,700 SU | +18 | 1,800 GU | 1,700 + 1,800 |
| +18 | +19 | 1,900 SU | +20 | 2,000 GU | 1,900 + 2,000 |
The "total" column is the unit-count for both steps combined — remember that SU and GU are separate stacks, so thou must hold both. Everything past +18 starting bonus runs into the +20 ceiling; see the cap section below.
Skill-requirement uplift
For weapons and armour that carry a skill requirement, every step raises the requirement by 10. A sword that needed 10 Sword to wield will need 20 Sword after SU and 30 Sword after GU. The weapon value updates accordingly — the gear is genuinely stronger, but only those who have trained the skill can wield it.
Worked example
- Base: +5 Sword, requires 10 Sword skill.
- After SU: +6 Sword, requires 20 Sword skill. Cost: 600 SU.
- After GU: +7 Sword, requires 30 Sword skill. Cost: 700 GU.
Plan thy character's skill curve around this. A weapon thou canst use today may sit on thy belt for a session after SU, and another after GU, until thy training catches up.
Caps
- Stat cap: +20. No bonus may be pushed past +20 by SU or GU. The operation will be refused if it would breach the cap. In practice this means a +18 item can SU to +19 and GU to +20 (the natural top), while a +19 item can only SU to +20 — GU is then unavailable. A +20 item is at the ceiling for this method.
- Skill-requirement cap: 120. A weapon or armour piece's skill requirement cannot exceed 120 after enhancement. If SU or GU would push the requirement past 120, the operation is refused.
Where to find SU and GU
Both units are mining drops. The pickaxe is the friend of any adventurer planning to enhance their gear.
- Silver Units — the easiest of the two. Mine in the standard mine levels and SU drops at a steady pace. Stockpiles build naturally over a few sessions of farming.
- Gold Units — rarer. Smaller chunks turn up in the deeper mine levels alongside SU, but the larger payouts are in the hidden GU rooms tucked away inside the mine system. Knowing where those rooms hide is half the value of a high-level miner.
Mining is the cheapest gold-free way to fund an enhancement run. Trade is the other option — both stacks regularly turn up on the auction.
Good to know
- Orbs still work on enhanced items. SU/GU and orbs are independent systems. An item that has been silvered and gilded can still receive an orb on top, raising one of its bonuses further. Plan accordingly: an SU-then-GU-then- orb path is the maximum a single piece can absorb.
- Enhanced gear is visibly different. Once an item is silvered, its sprite changes to a silver tint; once gilded, the sprite shifts to gold. At a glance thou canst tell whether a piece in the realm has been enhanced and how far — handy when shopping the auction or eyeing a corpse drop.
Not every item can be enhanced
SU/GU works only on certain equipment. Quest rewards, unique drops and consumables are typically excluded, and a fair share of crafted gear is too. If the item is not eligible, the operation simply does nothing — thy units stay in thy bag.
When in doubt: pieces with multiple stats from the same family, drops from the deeper catacombs and ordinary shop gear are usually the prime candidates for enhancement. Quest-bound items and one-of-a-kind rewards generally are not.
Practical advice
- Stockpile both units before thou commit. Half-enhancing an item burns SU thou canst not get back, and a +N+1 item with no GU on hand sits in the bag waiting. Have the matching GU stack in inventory before thou pop the SU.
- Train the skill before SU. A +6 sword that requires 20 Sword is no good if thou hast 14 Sword. Better to delay the upgrade by a level or two than carry dead weight.
- Pick a frame with stats worth scaling. The +1 of SU and GU multiplies across every stat already on the item. A two-stat ring gains two tiers per step; a single-stat ring gains one. Spend the units on the best base thou hast.
- Mind the welding shrines. If thou plan to weld two enhanced items later, the welding shrines (RDs 18, 27, 32, 46, 52, 72, 81, 98) merge the bonuses differently — be sure the enhancement order matches thy welding plan.